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Bautista joins leaders in AL All-Star balloting

Bautista joins leaders in AL All-Star balloting

6/13/12: Jose Bautista mashes a solo homer that banks off the upper deck in left, tying the game at 2 in the third

By Joey Nowak
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MLB.com |

After another week of All-Star Game fan voting, one big star is surging in the American League outfield polls.

Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista -- fourth in the league in home runs (19) and RBIs (47) -- is the only new player among the top three vote-getters at any position. He has 1,996,940 votes, jumping Texas' Nelson Cruz (1,944,487) to take the third outfield spot behind the Rangers' Josh Hamilton (5,414,880) and Curtis Granderson (2,818,535).

Hamilton's vote total puts him on pace to break Bautista's All-Star vote record of 7,454,753, set last year.

Cruz, who was also passed by Baltimore's Adam Jones and sits in fifth place, was 47,750 votes ahead of Bautista at last week's count but received about 93,000 fewer votes than Bautista in the past week. The three are separated by 52,453 votes.

Fans can submit up to 25 ballots per email address with the All-Star Game Online Ballot, through June 28 exclusively at MLB.com and all 30 club sites, wired or mobile. Once that voting ends, then comes the always frenetic finish with the All-Star Game MLB.com Final Vote from July 1-5 and the annual MVP vote during the All-Star Game to help decide who wins the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award.

Despite missing most of the past week with an intestinal virus, Hamilton remains the league's top vote-getter -- by a margin of 2,055,005 over Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter -- and is one of four Rangers currently slotted into starting positions for the 83rd All-Star Game on July 10 in Kansas City.

Ian Kinsler leads Robinson Cano in the second-base voting by just 15,260 votes, while Mike Napoli is pacing the Twins' Joe Mauer by nearly one million votes in the catcher polls. Adrian Beltre (2,251,304) leads Detroit's Miguel Cabrera (1,869,727) for the third-base starting spot.

Meanwhile, Jeter (3,359,875) continues to extend his lead in the shortstop voting over Texas' Elvis Andrus. Prince Fielder (1,946,045) remains the leader in the first-base polls, narrowly ahead of Chicago's Paul Konerko, who jumped from third to second place in last week's update and gained by about 9,000 in the past week.

David Ortiz (2,390,132) of the Red Sox also continues to pace the designated-hitter category, ahead of the Rangers' Michael Young and the Yankees' Raul Ibanez.

The National League update is to be released Tuesday.

The MLB All-Star balloting program last year produced a record-shattering total of 32.5 million ballots cast. More than 20 million Firestone All-Star ballots will be distributed at the 30 Major League ballparks, each of which will have 23 dates for balloting, and in approximately 100 Minor League ballparks.

Firestone, the official tire of MLB, is once again the exclusive sponsor of the 2012 In-Stadium All-Star Balloting Program. The ballot features an All-Star sweepstakes, in which a winner will be rewarded with a trip for two to MLB All-Star Week, including airfare, hotel accommodations, tickets to the All-Star Game and other MLB All-Star Week events.

Scotts, the official lawn-care company of MLB, is once again the sponsor of the retail All-Star Balloting Program, which launched on May 4 in select Lowe's stores and Chevrolet dealerships across the country. The Scotts ballot includes an opportunity to enter for a chance to win a baseball field makeover using Scotts products for your community.

Banco BHD sponsors All-Star balloting in the Dominican Republic, making Spanish-language ballots available to fans in the Dominican Republic via LasMayores.com, the official Spanish-language website of Major League Baseball, and at All-Star balloting terminals across more than 80 branches. Coors Light provides offline All-Star balloting in 60 Wal-Mart and Amigo convenience stores throughout Puerto Rico, through Sunday.

The 2012 rosters will be unveiled July 1 on the 2012 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show presented by Taco Bell, televised nationally on TBS. The AL All-Star team will have nine elected starters via the fan balloting program, while the NL squad will have eight fan-elected starters. The pitchers and reserves for both squads -- totaling 25 for the NL and 24 for the AL -- will be determined through a combination of Player Ballot choices and selections made by the two All-Star managers -- AL skipper Ron Washington of the Rangers and NL manager Tony La Russa -- in conjunction with Major League Baseball.

The 83rd All-Star Game will be televised nationally by FOX Sports; in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS; and worldwide by partners in more than 200 countries via MLB International's independent feed. Pregame ceremonies will begin at 8 p.m. ET. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide exclusive national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB Network, MLB.com and Sirius XM also will provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, visit allstargame.com or royals.com/asg.